The Heron on the Roof
When I go to Puget sound, sometimes I spot a thin, stoic blue heron standing perfectly still with legs submerged in the water. It always feels like good luck to spot one of these graceful birds. But there is a certain expectation that maybe one will be spotted when in great blue heron land. However, when you walk out your front door and spot one on your neighbors roof, now that is a true surprise.
The heron isn't the only particularly amazing bird I've seen while merely stepping out of my house. I've seen a great bald eagle on a few different occasions, always with a trail of crows bombing after it. I've also seen two pale ospreys flying in circles against the bright blue sky above my house.
In m neighborhood I find orange feathers quite often. They are the pretty orange feathers of flickers which flutter and fly all around my neighborhood. We also have starlings that come swooping into the neighborhood. I can hear them chattering and once I find them I like to watch them as they sparkle and fly like one entity. We also have several crows which are not be underestimated. There are blue jays that come cackling in the apple tree. I see hummingbirds too lingering next to bright flowers. And of course the common song birds, the junkos and sparrows and chickadees.
One time, late at night I was walking Oscar, my dog. Suddenly, we heard a horrifying sound. It was a screech, a wicked sounding screech blasting past the dark and shadows. I didn't know what it was, but it gave me the heebie jeebies so Oscar and I hustled back home. But later I learned it wasn't a cursed spirit, it was just an owl hollering through the night, warning us to stay away, that the night belonged to him, and that the birds have their ways to reclaim the land that was once so freely theirs. Screeching through the night, or hovering on the roof, or peering down at us from telephone poles. The birds are all around watching this world of theirs.
The heron isn't the only particularly amazing bird I've seen while merely stepping out of my house. I've seen a great bald eagle on a few different occasions, always with a trail of crows bombing after it. I've also seen two pale ospreys flying in circles against the bright blue sky above my house.
In m neighborhood I find orange feathers quite often. They are the pretty orange feathers of flickers which flutter and fly all around my neighborhood. We also have starlings that come swooping into the neighborhood. I can hear them chattering and once I find them I like to watch them as they sparkle and fly like one entity. We also have several crows which are not be underestimated. There are blue jays that come cackling in the apple tree. I see hummingbirds too lingering next to bright flowers. And of course the common song birds, the junkos and sparrows and chickadees.
One time, late at night I was walking Oscar, my dog. Suddenly, we heard a horrifying sound. It was a screech, a wicked sounding screech blasting past the dark and shadows. I didn't know what it was, but it gave me the heebie jeebies so Oscar and I hustled back home. But later I learned it wasn't a cursed spirit, it was just an owl hollering through the night, warning us to stay away, that the night belonged to him, and that the birds have their ways to reclaim the land that was once so freely theirs. Screeching through the night, or hovering on the roof, or peering down at us from telephone poles. The birds are all around watching this world of theirs.